Security & Strategic Review - February 2019

Costa Rica: Alvarado hails drop in homicides

One of the main challenges facing President Carlos Alvarado and his Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC) upon taking office in May 2018 was security, given that 2017 closed with a record 603 homicides. Last month, however, Alvarado was able to point to the first decline in five years. While this has been hailed as progress, Security Minister Michael Soto nonetheless warned that recent proposed changes to gun control legislation could reverse this trend.